Chapter 3

3

" G ood morning!" Uisnech chirped as he hurried into the guest room, balancing a tray full of…well, pretty much everything. Croissants and scones, buttered toast, black pudding, bowls full of strawberries and kiwi, plus porridge and a steaming plate of bacon and sausage.

I sat up straight, blinking the sleep out of my eyes. "Erm, Uisnech. Is the entire Court coming to my room for breakfast?"

He grinned broadly. "This is all for you. Noble warriors need fuel. Much fuel!"

"Yes. Much fuel." Rolling my eyes, I smiled and climbed out of the bed. Socked feet scuffing along the floor, I grabbed the tray from Uisnech before all the food created a kaleidoscope of mush on the floor. "Thanks, Uisnech. I appreciate you looking after me, but I could have joined everyone in the Great Hall this morning. "

"Ah." He twisted away and busied himself with something on the table. I frowned and peered around him. He was just picking up the remote control and putting it right back down again. "Yes, well. You see. Lugh thought it might be best if you dined in your room while you're here at Castle Wraith."

"Oh." I swallowed the lump that suddenly formed in my throat. "He doesn't want to see me."

"It is very painful, you see," Uisnech said quickly, "for him to see you and know that you do not wish to fulfil your bond with him."

I sighed and grabbed a slice of toast, nibbling on the end. "You know that isn't true. It's not that I don't want to. It's that I can't. I've spent every waking moment of my life for the past month trying to find a way to reverse the prophecy."

Uisnech scurried a little closer and dropped his voice to a whisper. "I have an idea for breaking the prophecy."

I widened my eyes. "What?"

"Stay here. Be with Lugh. And simply do not kill him."

Disappointed, I turned back to my toast. For a brief moment, I'd had hope again. "I wish it were as easy as that."

"And why isn't it, my noble friend?"

"Because what if something happens that changes everything?" I pointed out. "What if it's an accident? What if, I don't know, something possesses my mind and makes me do it? There is magic out there that can do that. I've seen it happen before. It's rare, but it exists. Trust me, Uisnech. I've thought of a million different ways it could happen."

He patted my hand. "Such is the same for all of life. There are a million terrible things that can happen to all off us every day. And yet we still keep living, trying and hoping and making our way through this messy mortal realm. That is all you can do, Moira. And it is your choice whether you face it head on or if you run."

I blinked down at the little creature. Had the hobgoblin just waxed poetic about life and happiness? I couldn't help but smile back.

And then a banging on the door interrupted the moment. A short fae poked her head through the door, green hair curtaining a pixie face. "The king wishes for Moira to meet his guard team at half past nine. He reminds her not to be late."

A fter scarfing down some breakfast—alone—I strapped my sword to my back and headed toward the training room where Lugh's guard team planned to have a pow wow about this mysterious mission. I'd come all the way here from London, and I still had no idea what I'd gotten myself into. All I knew was that someone planned to steal Lugh's spear .

While I appreciated the danger of the situation, I didn't quite understand why they needed me.

When I pushed inside the training room, five pairs of eyes turned my way. Lugh stood in the center of the room with his arms crossed over his chest. Beside him stood my dear friend Saoirse with her unblinking purple eyes and hollow cheeks. Saoirse was half-druid, half-fae, and she could sometimes see the future. Not always. I'd tried asking her time and time again what would happen between me and Lugh, but she couldn't see it herself. She found nothing but murky darkness where we were concerned. That probably wasn't a great sign, to be honest.

Out of everyone who called this castle home, she'd been the only to text.

She met my gaze and smiled. Lugh didn't even flinch.

The other three were warriors I'd met before. Boudica and Warin, the ginger twins who rarely spoke. And Nero, a tall, muscle-corded male about five inches taller than everyone else, save Lugh.

"Hi." I held up a hand and half-smiled, half-winced. The whole room suddenly felt pregnant with awkwardness. Probably because every single fae here knew that Lugh and I were fated mates, and that I'd run the hell away from him when I'd found out. "Uisnech said you needed some help with the…spear thing?" I waved vaguely at the whiteboard propped up beside Saoirse. There was a drawing of Old Town scrawled across it in red marker with a circle around an intersection and the words ‘A Knight's End' written next to it.

Immediately, my gaze hyper-focused on the board. I knew that place. It was a pub I'd crashed the night we'd faced off against the enemies in Mary King's Close. The bartender there was human and not a particularly big fan of supernaturals.

I pointed toward the board. "A Knight's End? What's a shitty pub got to do with Lugh's spear?"

"This." Saoirse whipped some kind of long staff out from behind her back and tapped the end against the whiteboard. My eyebrows shot up, and I pressed my lips together to hold back the amused smile. Where'd she get that thing? "Is the arsehole who wants to steal Lugh's spear."

My brows arched even higher. "Um, I don't think so."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lugh scowl at me. Or maybe I just felt the scowl emanating from his tense body. All I knew was that he was scowling right at me, and I didn't dare look. That scowl always had an unintended consequence. It made my heart beat faster.

Confusion rippled across Saoirse's face. "We've tracked the IP address to this pub. I'm certain the owner is the one behind the scheme."

"Whoa." I held up my hands and strode across the room to peer at the board. "Slow down. What scheme, exactly? What IP address? Catch me up on what's been going on since I've been gone. "

"Right." Saoirse turned to the board and tapped her staff against the street markings. "Someone has been seeking out supernaturals for a mission against Lugh. We heard rumors it was happening, and then one of our fae went undercover, to this very bar, and overheard some people talking about it. Apparently, they put an ad on a notice board there."

I frowned, furrowing my brows. "They put a notice up on a pub board to find supernaturals? Yeah, that doesn't sound dodgy at all."

"Well, here's where it gets weird," she continued. "Some similar inquiries popped up online. They were all over Reddit, Preloved, and Gumtree. A request to meet supernaturals who don't like the fae king that rules on the hill."

Finally, I cut my eyes toward Lugh. His face remained impassive, but his jaw slightly rippled as he clenched his teeth. Lugh had been an enigma when I'd met him. At first, he had seemed hard and cruel and as wicked as Nemain. But I had learned that beneath his cold exterior, he was pretty much a sheep in wolf's clothing. That said, there was one thing he couldn't stand, and that was his authority being questioned.

There was probably some part of his ancient past that still echoed through the very depths of him. He had once been a nightmare wraith, a creature of darkness who fed on fear. But he'd been more than just a wraith. He had been the wraith. The king of them. Their commander. He had the power to wield his will over them all.

And that was one very big reason why Lugh could never lose his soul. If he did, he really wouldn't be Lugh anymore.

He would be the commander of a nightmarish army once again.

"And so you somehow tracked the IP address?" I asked, turning my attention back on Saoirse.

She nodded eagerly. "Yep. And it went right back to A Knight's End, where that first flurry of posters showed up. It's the pub owner. It's got to be."

"Maybe it's someone staying in one of the rooms?" I asked, remembering that the pub also had a hotel on top of it.

She shook her head. "Nope. We checked. No one has been staying there for that long. He hasn't had any long-term tenants in years."

"Huh." I crossed my arms and stared harder at the board, as if it would flash the answers to my many questions. Why was a human going after Lugh? How did he even know about the spear to begin with? And why did he suddenly want to team up with supernaturals when he'd been so angry about them before?

It boggled the mind.

"There were loads of these ads," Saoirse continued, turning her attention toward Nero. "How many did you count in the end?"

"Approximately sixty-seven."

I whipped my head toward the warrior. " Sixty- seven? I thought you were going to say there were maybe ten."

"Sixty-seven," he repeated. "All saying the same bloody thing. Whoever is intent on getting his hands on Lugh's spear is serious."

I didn't blame him. I wanted to get my hands on Lugh's spear again myself…

Ahem.

"So, then…" I glanced from Nero to Saoirse, and then to the twins, and then finally to Lugh, who still avoided my gaze. "Why don't you just go and do something about it? He's human. It's not like he would stand much of a chance against you. Throw him in the dungeon for a year, and he'll probably get the hint that going after the King of Wraiths is a bloody terrible idea."

"Well, here's the problem." Saoirse winced. "He's not acting alone at this point. He put out so many ads that he's somehow managed to find some takers. Some supernaturals have joined the cause. And they're plotting to steal the spear."

"What if you hide the spear?" I offered. "We could take it down to London and keep it there."

Lugh shook his head. "I need regular contact with it. If I sent it away, the separation would affect me. And I am not leaving my Court here alone. That is not up for discussion."

By ‘affect' him, he probably didn't mean that he'd miss the damn thing .

"I thought as long as no one destroyed your spear, then you wouldn't lose your soul," I said.

His jaw clenched. "It's not as simple as that. I am bound to the spear, and the spear is bound to me. That means I need it by my side."

"Right," I said slowly. "So burying it isn't an option. And throwing the human into the dungeons isn't an option." I scanned the room. "But you must have something else in mind. Something that involves some sort of sneak attack. Is that why Uisnech wanted to bring me here?"

Lugh's eyes turned my way as he crossed his arms over his chest. A sharp burst of magic stabbed my gut, forcing me to gasp. It hurt to even look him in the eye, especially after our awkward confrontation in the library the night before. "You spied once before. I want you to spy again."

My eyes widened. "I spied on you . And you knew I was spying on you. I hardly think that's a great review of my spying abilities."

"I only knew you were a spy because you were my mate." He shook his head. "You were actually fairly convincing with your sob story about being alone your entire life. About being a solitary fae. If I hadn't felt that mating bond snap between us, if Saoirse hadn't seen you coming…I wouldn't have known what you were, Moira. I wouldn't have known you were here as a spy instead of a fae in need."

I pressed my lips together. "I'm really not a good spy. You know I prefer to use my sword. Is there some reason none of the rest of you can do it?"

They all exchanged uneasy glances, and Saoirse cleared her throat. "We have reason to suspect that some of the local vamps are involved. And they know all of us."

Warin twisted my way and gave a nod. "The vamps here in Edinburgh aren't like the ones down south. These still feed on innocent humans, and sometimes kill them. Our team here has stepped in more times than I can count."

"So, you need someone the local vamps won't recognise," I said slowly, and then frowned. "But I was here at the Court only a few weeks ago. I got fake initiated and everything."

A flicker of irritation went through me at the memory. I still hadn't forgotten about that whole Sluagh dungeon thing, even if Lugh had been in those eerie tunnels with me the entire time, unbeknownst to me.

At the time, I'd thought it was a test to determine whether or not I belonged in the Court, how desperate I was to join it.

In reality, Lugh had been playing a prank on a spy.

Fae . Sometimes, we were arseholes. Not that I blamed him. I probably would have done far worse than that.

Lugh gave a quick shake of his head. "That means you're recognisable to the fae of this castle, but the vampires have no bloody clue who you are. You weren't here long enough for…"

He trailed off into an awkward silence. Wincing, I shifted on my feet. Saoirse coughed into her hand, and the trio of warriors suddenly seemed intently interested in the hilts of their swords.

I needed to steer the conversation back on to the mission, and fast. Spying on this human was pretty much the last thing I wanted to do, but I'd come all the way to Edinburgh. Plus, Uisnech was counting on me. Might as well get this thing done. The sooner it was over, the sooner I could head home to London.

The sooner I could get away from Lugh and our perilous fate.

I sucked in a deep breath. "Fine. I'll do it. What exactly is the plan?"

Saoirse's expression brightened, and she turned back toward the whiteboard. "Brilliant. What we need you to do is head to A Knight's End and ask the bartender about an ad you saw online. Real casual-like. Get as much info as you can. Try to figure out how many supes have joined his team and when they plan to make a move against Lugh's spear."

"Right." My heart thumped. I could do this. Easy peasy. No big deal. All I had to do was ask a few questions, and then I could head back down to London and go back to my comfort zone of hiding from my dreaded fate with Lugh. This wouldn't be the day that I ended up taking his life away from him.

Speaking of the devil, Lugh chose that moment to shoot me a piercing gaze, one that brought a heavy dose of magic along with it. My breath caught, and I almost stumbled back. Tendrils of slick power curled around my body. My knees trembled. A part of me hated it—I was a strong, badass, capable fae—but another, much deeper, part of myself wanted to rush across the room and launch into his arms.

"You'll go tonight," he said in a low, dangerous voice. "And then Uisnech will escort you back home."

The magic that curled around me vanished into wisps of invisible smoke. A hollow ache took its place, leaving me with nothing more than brutal memories of the moments we had shared. I'd get this done and get out of here, sure, but I'd be leaving a part of me behind once again.

And Lugh didn't even seem to care.